Sausage-stuffing apparatus



@cik. 9 1923..

H. C. AHRENS SAUSAGE STUFFING APPARATUS Patented @ct. 9, 1923.

srarns l ddtttii HERMAN C. AHRENS, OI CINCINNATI, OHIOQ SAUSAGE-STUFFING APPARATUS.

Application filed July 19,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERMAN C. Annnns, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain. new and useful Improvements in Sausage-Stufi'- ing Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in sausage stuffing apparatus. One of its obj ects is to provide improved means to render it impossible to move the plunger while the cylinder head is not clamped in operative position on the end of the cylinder, to avoid in jury to persons adjacent to the apparatus or waste of material. Another object is to provide means to render it impossible to actuate the fluid pressure valve to admit pressure below the plunger while the cylinder head is not in position upon the end of the cylinder My invention also comprises certain details and relation of component members, all of which will be fully set forth in the description of the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1, is a plan view of a sausage stuffing apparatus embodying my invention with the cylinder head in place upon the cylinder.

Fig. 2, is a side elevation of the same.

Fig. 3, is a view similar to Fig. 1, with the cylinder head removed from the cylinder.

Fig. @L, is a side elevation of the upper portion of the cylinder taken at right angles to that shown in Fig. 2.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred embodiment of my invention in which represents the cylinder of a sausage stufling apparatus having aplunger 16 movable upwardly therein due to the application of fluid pressure to the under face of the plunger. The plunger is preferably of considerable weight in order that when the fluid pressure below the plunger is released the weight of the plunger will be'sutficient to overcome the frictional resistance andthe plunger will descend by gravity. At the upper end the cylinder is provided with one or more exit ports'17 to which nozzles 18 are fitted.

A yoke 19 is pivotally mounted upon a stud. bolt 20 carried by an car 21 projecting from the upper end of the cylinder. The yoke 19 is adjustable from a position across the upper end of the cylinder as shown in Fig. 1 to a position at one side of the upper end of the cylinder as shown in Fig. 2. a The 12-22. Serial No. 576.105.

movement ofthe yoke 19 is limited at one end by thecngageinent ofa bolt 22 carried atthe free end of yoke 19 with a recess 23 in anear 2 f projecting from the upper'end of the cylinder, and at the opposite end of its movement the yoke 19 is limited by the engagement of a portion of flange 25 carried by the yoke 19 with the side of the cylinder as shown in Fig. 3. The bolt22 also serves to clamp the free end of the yoke 19 firmly to the upper end of the cylinder.

A cylinderhead 26 is pivotally mounted upon the lower end of a press screw 27, which screw is threaded through the central portion. of the yoke 19. A hand wheel or hand lever :28 rigidly mounted upon the upper end of the press screw 27 provides for adjusting the cylinder head to and from the upper end of the cylinder, and for holding or locking the cylinder head firmly in place upon the end of the cylinder. A ground metal joint at 29 is preferably provided between the cylinder head and the upper end of the cylinder. The lower end of the cylinder may be closed in any desired manner, as for instance by means of a head 30 bolted to the lower end of the cylinder.

Fluid pressure, preferably air under pressure is applied through the conduit 31 to the lower end of the cylinder below the plunger 16 to force the plunger 16 upwardly in the cylinder. Without suitable provisions to safeguard the operation, an operator or unauthorized person is liable to apply air pressure to the under face of the plunger while the cylinder head is not properly secured and locked in place upon the upper end of the cylinder, thereby forcing the heavy plunger out of the cylinder at the upper end thereof to cause property damage and personal injury.-

i In order to safeguard the operation of the apparatus 1 provide for taking the supply of compressed air from. a storage reservoir or direct from a compressor through a conduit to three-way controlling cook or valve 341: controllable by means of a hand lever 35 to direct a supply of air under pressure from the conduit 33 to the lower end of the cylinder through the conduit 31. or to exhaust the air from the lower end of the cylinder through the conduit 31 and an exhaust conduit 36.

- In order that'the hand lever in ay not be actuated to supply air under pressure to the cylinder through the conduit 31 except when the cylinder head 26 and yoke 19 are properly positioned above the upper end of the cylinder, I provide a bolt or plunger 88 which is actuated from the hand lever by means of a connecting link 39, and is guided to move vertically in and by a vertical recess in the projection 21. The flange 25 which rides over the upper face of the projection 21 is also provided with a vertical recess 41 which registers with the recess 40 when the yoke 19 and cylinder head are in position above the cylinder to permit the upper end of plunger 38 tomove upwardly from the recess 40 into the recess 41, and thereby permits the hand lever 35 to be moved to a position to supply air under pressure to the lower end at the cylinder, but prevents the cylinder head being moved from above the upper end of the cylinder until the hand lever 35 has been adjusted to cut 0H and exhaust the air supply, and also prevents the hand lever being employed to admit air under pressure to the cylinder until after the cylinder head and yoke have been adjusted to position over the end of the cylinder with the recess 41 registering with the recess 40.

A careless operator is also liable to operate the hand wheel 28 to break the joint 29 between the cylinder head 26 and the upper end of the cylinder while there is an air pressure acting upon the plunger to force the plunger upwardly, thereby forcing the charge of meat in the cylinder above the plunger out between the cylinder head and upper end of the cylinder, to thereby cause property damage or injury. In order to provide'against such injury or damage I provide a spring actuated air valve 43 preferably attached concentrically with the yoke 19 to the upperend of the bolt 20 by means of which the yoke 19 is pivoted to the projection 21. The valve 43 is connected by a branch air conduit 44 with the air conduit 31. The valve 43 is normally held closed by means of a spring located therein, and said valve is provided with a stem or projection 45 which is in position to be engaged by one end of a lever 46, which is pivotally mounted in the forked end of a bracket 47 attached to the yoke 19. The opposite end of bracket 47 is :torked and spans the upper end of the press screw 27 between the hand wheel 28 and a collar 48 adjustably attached to the press screw by a set screw. lVhen the press screwis employed to force the cylinder 26 head upon the end of the cylinder, the endot lever 46 is released from engagement with the valve stem 45, and the valve 43 is closed allowing air under pressure to accumulate in the cylinder below the plunger. As soon as the hand wheel 28 is actuated to break the joint 29 between the cylinder and cylinder head, the collar 48 is elevated thereby actuating the lever 46 18 over which sausage casings have been previously drawn.

The apparatus herein shown and described is capable of considerable modification within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit of my invention.

What I claim is:

l. Sausage stutling apparatus comprising a cylinder a plunger mounted therein, a yoke pivotally attached to said cylinder a press screw carried by said yoke, a cylinder head mounted upon said press screw and adapted to be applied to and removed from one end of said cylinder, a fluid conduit leading to said cylinder and through which fluid pressure is adapted to be applied to one end of said plunger, a controller valve operable to apply fluid pressure to and exhaust fluid under pressure from said cylinder, and means operable in unison with the movements of said controller valve and operable only when said yoke is in position; for the cylinder head to close the cylinder to safeguard the operation of said controller valve.

2. Sausage stuffing apparatus comprising a cylinder a plunger mounted therein, a yoke pivotally attached to said cylinder, a re screwcarried by said yoke, a cylinder head mounted upon said press screw and adapted to be appliedtto and ren'ioved from one end of said cylinder, a fluid conduit leading to said cylinder and through which fluid pressure is adapted to be applied to one end of said plunger, a controller valve operable to apply fluid pressure to and exhaust fluid under pressure from said-cylinder, means to manually shift said controller valve from exhaust to supply position, a bolt operable in unison with the movements of said valve shitting means, and a member carried by said yoke and interposed in the path of said bolt except when said yoke is in position for the cylinder head to close the cylinder, to prevent shitting said controller valve to supply position except when said yoke is in a predetermined position.

3. Sausage stutling apparatus comprising a cylinder, a plunger mounted therein, a yoke pivotally attached to said cylinder a press screw carried by said yoke, a cylinder head mounted upon said press screw and adapted to be applied to and removed from one end of said cylinder, a fluid conduit leading to said cylinder and through which fluid pressure is adapted to be applied to one end of said plunger, a controller valve operable to supply fluid pressure to and exhaust fluid under pressure from said cylinder, an automatically closed supplemental exhaust valve mounted concentrically with said yoke and connected by means of a branch fluid conduit with said main fluid conduit, and means actuated in unison with the n'iovenients of said press screw to open said supplemental exhaust valve whenever said press screw is actuated to loosen said. cylinder head from the cylinder.

4. Sausage stufling apparatus comprising a cylinder a plunger mounted therein, a yoke pivotally attached to said cylinder, a press screw carried by said yoke, a cylinder head mounted upon said press screw and adapted to be applied to and removed from one end of said cylinder, a fluid conduit leading to said cylinder and through which fluid pressure is adapted to be applied to one end of said plunger, a controller valve operable to apply fluid pressure to and exhaust fluid under pressure from said cylinder, means to manually shift said controller valve from exhaust to supply position, a bolt operable in unison with the movements ol said valve shifting means, and a member carried. by said yoke and interposed in. the path of said bolt except when said yoke is in position -for the cylinder head to close the cylinder, to prevent shifting said controller valve to supply position except when said yoke is in a predetermined position, an auton'iatically closed supplemental exhaust valve mounted concentrically with said yoke and connected by means of a branch fluid conduit with said main fluid conduit, and means actuated in unison with the movements of said press screw to open said supplemental exhaust valve whenever said press screw is actuated to loosen said cylinder head from the cylinder.

5. Sausage stufling apparatus comprising a cylinder a plunger mounted therein, a yoke pivotally attached to said cylinder a press screw carried by said yoke, a cylinder head mounted upon said press screw and adapted to be applied to and removed from one end. of said cylinder, a fluid conduit leading to said cylinder and through which fluid pres sure is adapted to be applied to one end of said plunger, a controller valve operable to apply fluid pressure to and exhaust fluid un-- der pressure from said cylinder, an automatically closed supplemental exhaust valve mounted concentrically with said yoke and connected by means of a branch fluid con duit with said main fluidconduit, a lever pivotally mounted upon said yoke and hav one end operatively connected with said press screw and its other end in position to engage the stem of said supplemental exhaust valve to open said supplemental exhaust valve and exhaust the pressure in the cylinder whenever said press screw is actu ated to loosen the cylinder head from the end of the cylinder.

6. Sausage stufling apparatus comprising a cylinder, a plunger mounted therein, a yoke pivotally attached to said cylinder, a cylinder head means to apply said cylinder head to the end of said cylinder and release it therefrom, means to apply fluid pressure to one end of said plunger, an exhaust valve connected with the pressure end or" said cylinder by a fluid conduit, and means actuated in unison with the movements of said cylinder head to open said exhaust valve and exhaust pressure from said cylinder whenever said cylinder head is loosened from the end of said cylinder.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature.

HERMAN C. AHRENS. 

